THE OTHER AIRBENDER (Book 2)

(XXI) Earth

"I missed you more than you'll ever know, buddy," Aang tells Appa, as he hugs the bison's giant head happily.

"We all missed the big guy," I add with a grin.

"Look, we escaped from the Dai Li. We got Appa back. I'm telling you, we should go to the Earth King now and tell him our plan. We're on a roll," Sokka begins, but his sister doesn't seem very convinced of this.

"One good hour after weeks of trouble isn't much of a roll," Katara retorts.

"We can build on it. If we want to invade the Fire Nation when the eclipse happens, we'll need the Earth King's support," Sokka responds.

"What makes you think we'll get it? I don't know if you've noticed, but things don't usually go that smoothly for our little gang," Toph comments, and honestly, I agree.

"Sokka, I understand that having the Earth King's help is important, but we can't just burst into his palace and demand an audience. It's a miracle that we've managed to get away from the Dai Li up to now."

"I know, Alya, but I've got a good feeling about this one—"

"Sokka, Long Feng is in control of the city. His conspiracy with the Dai Li is too powerful. I think we should just keep flying and leave this horrible place behind us," Katara demands sternly.

"We've got Appa. We don't need anything else from this horrible city," I agree.

"I'm with Sweetness and Air Head. I've seen enough of Ba Sing Se," Toph scoffs, raising her arms with a sigh. "And I can't even see!"

"But now that we have Appa back, there's nothing stopping us from telling the Earth King the truth. About the conspiracy and the War," Aang says, suddenly joining the conversation.

"See? Aang's with me. It's the whole reason we came here in the first place. We have to try," Sokka says, putting his arm around Aang's shoulders and smiling with satisfaction.

"I guess... If the Earth King knew the truth, maybe things could change," Katara finally gives in with a sigh.

"I hate it when you two agree on something," I sigh, knowing that we're heading back to Ba Sing Se, no matter what I say.

***

"There it is! That whole thing is the palace! The Earth King's chamber should be in the center!" Sokka says, as he points at the giant palace in the distance. It's hard to truly appreciate just how big that thing is from up on Appa's back. Especially since I'm more terrified than usual about riding on Appa's bare back.

"We have to be careful. Long Feng's probably warned the king that we're coming," Katara notes.

"Why would you assume that? If you ask me, I think we're just gonna sail right in and—" Sokka stops mid-sentence as a giant boulder is thrown in our direction from the ground. "AHHH!"

"What was that?" Toph asks, clearly unaware of what's going on.

"Surface-to-air rocks!" Sokka replies with alarm. "More incoming!"

We have to dodge several more rocks headed our way, which only makes both Toph and I more terrified than before. Aang manages to both ride Appa with ease all the way down to the palace's front grounds and earthbend the boulders out of our way. We finally land and get off Appa, where we're greeted by a large group of earthbender soldiers, probably told to stop us from reaching the palace.

Sadly for them, just as Sokka said, we're on a roll. While Katara uses two long water whips to fend some of them off, Sokka uses hand-to-hand combat while Aang and Toph clear the way for us with earthbending. I join Appa and airblast most of our enemies far away from us, trying to hurt them the least as possible.